NK.  D.D..  M.D 


M0Mm!M 


W/^lllll0f^ 


BY  HENRY  F.  CAMPBELL. 


M^i^:. 


v\  ■ 

''"  ^  ■.' ."■'f-''';    '.'■■■■ 

^ :  'v'S;^''  ■■■l'- 

-'    ■  ...■    ',[■ 

I  '\ 


LIBRARY  OF  THE  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY 

PRINCETON,  N.  J. 


BX  9225  .172  C35  1882 
Campbell,  Henry  Fraser 
Memoir  of  Rev.  Robert 
Irvine,  d.  d.,  m.  d. 


'f  )  ■  ■  ■ 


:V 


^' 


r 

V 

J 

'■■  *A 

s 

■.,:  :'4  A""' 

•^l*"  .' ;. 

'^r}'/ 

■^'■■'■'" 

'Sr;^' 


f^"".'  s' 


J.  ••■'♦/;  :> 


i^u;;  . 


all  *  ■ 

J^^'-  '1' 

^  \.\   '-■ ' 

\^  ■ '" 

-?^'  ., 

^H,v,. 

^f  ;>;'■ 

%',  '■■'  ■ 

?' 
'*)'.' 


^-^^-^^^-^^     ^^^U,r€e^l   t>^^*w- 

MEMOIR 


OF 


^^     ^^£.A*-*!^ic*a. 


REV.  ROBERT  IRVINE,  D.D., 

Pastor  of  the  First  Presbyterian  i^hurch, 
Augusta,  Georgia. 


PREPARED  FOR  THE  COMMITTEE  ON  NECROLOGY  OF  THE 
MEDICAL  ASSOCIATION  OF  GEORGIA. 


y 


^ 


By  henry   eraser   CAMPBELL,  M.D., 

EX-PBESIDENT  OF  THE  ASSOCIATION. 


REPRINTED    FROM    THE    TRANSACTIONS    OF    THE    MEDICAL    ASSOCIATION 
OF    GEOROIA THIRTY-SECOND    ANNUAL    SESSION — 1881. 


WITH    APPENDIX. 


Augusta,  Georgia  : 
PRINTED    BY    JOSEPH    LOVEDAY,    REYNOLD    ST. 

MDCCCLXXXII. 


Jesus  is  mij  Trust!" 


SftfUtt 


4> 


In  regard  to  the  Memoir  of  Dr.  Irvine,  in  its  present 
form,  a  few  words  in  brief  explanation  are  perhaj)s  desir- 
able. 

The  Medical  Association,  of  Georgia  is  the  represent- 
ative body  of  the  Profession  in  the  State.  By  a  time- 
honored  observance — the  custom  of  recording  the  deaths  of 
the  members  in  elegiac  memoirs,  more  or  less  extended — it 
became  the  duty  of  the  Necrological  Committee  to  furnish 
a  record  of  the  death  of  Dr.  Irvine,  as  a  member  of  the 
Association.  This  memoir  the  Committee  requested  the 
writer — as  an  intimate  friend  of  Dr.  Irvine,  and  an  elder 
of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church — to  prepare  for  the  then 
forthcoming  volume  of  the  Transactions.  The  discussion 
was  necessarily  restricted  to  points  in  the  medical  and 
.  ministerial  life  of  the  subject ;  and  this  will  account  for 
much  that  has  been  omitted  in  the  present  record  of  his 
life  and  character. 

The  presentation  of  the  Memoir  in  its  present  separate 
form,  with  the  addition  of  the  Appendix,  is  in  response  to 
the  wishes  of  those  who  desired  such  a  memorial  of  their 
beloved  Pastor,  and  to  give  a  somewhat  further  record  of 
the  grief  and  high  appreciation  manifested  at  his  death. 

Henry  F.  Campbell. 
Augusta,  Georgia, 

April,  1882. 


I«ttl  ^alltt* 


B^:S) 


In  Jflemory  of 

REV.  ROBERT  IRVINE,  D.D., 

FOR    OVER    TEN    YEARS 
THE    BELOVED    AND    FAITHFUL 

PASTOR   OF   THIS   CHURCH. 
Born  in  County  Down, 

Ireland, 

September  15th,  1814; 

Finished  his  Christian  Ministry, 

In  the  Service  of  this  People, 

April  8th,  1881. 


"  Blessed  is  the  man  that  trusteth  in  the  Lord." 


Erected  as  a  Tribute  of  Affection  by  the  Sewing  Society  and  Ladies  of 
the  Congi-egation. 

The  Inscription  was  prepared  by  Dr.  A.  Sibley  Campbell,  Deacon  of  the 
First  Presbyterian  Church. 


lillfttitt^ 


Co 

rflrs.  iUhomas  P.  Branch,  of  Augusta, 

anb   to 

Lieutenant  Robert  ].  ^'  3ruine,  U.  S.  A., 

Chis 


iDf  their  Beloue6  Father, 

3s  nnost  affectionately  inscribeb. 

By  their  Frienb, 

iUhe  Author. 


tJ. 


^yiTT^-hht 


ARTOTYPE.         E.     BIERSTADT 


IN  MEMORIAM. 


ROBERT    IRVINE,  D.D.,  M.D, 


"  AND    LUKE,    THE    BELOVED    PHYSICIAN." 


In  the  archives  of  medical  bioji,Taphy  are  to  be  found 
many  ilhistrious  examples  of  distinguished  men,  claimed 
by  us  with  pride  while  living  and  honored  after  death, 
whose  lives  had  been  devoted  to  other  pursuits,  and  the 
record  of  whose  chief  prominence  and  usefulness  had  been 
made  in  other  paths  than  those  of  the  Healing  Art. 

Both  from  the  living  and  the  dead  many  honored  names 
rise  now  to  our  memory,  like  witnesses  coming  forward  to 
testify  to  the  truth  of  this  assertion  : — Oliver  Wendell 
Holmes,  the  poet,  and  the  philosopher  as  well,  of  every 
household  ;  J.  G.  Holland,  the  author  of  "  Kathrina,"  and 
one  of  the  leading  littefateuTs  of  the  present  time, — be- 
sides many  others  in  both  belles-lettres  and  science, — were 
each  of  them  early  devoted  to  medicine.  They  gained 
their  first  sturdiness  in  her  nursery,  eacii  learning  to  soar 
on  wings  of  inspiration  that  had  been  plumed  in  the  nest 
of  his  medical  Alma  Mater. 

But,  as  more  pertinent  to  this  occasion,  and  as  an  in 
stance  familiar  to  the  present  auditory,  let  us  refer  to  one 
who  long   ago  went  out  from  our  very  midst — from   the 


^  Memoir  of 

circle  of  the  most  active  members  of  this  Association — 
the  Rt.  Rev.  Charles  Todd  Quintard,  M.D.,  D.D.,  LL.D., 
Episcopal  Bishoj)  of  Tennessee.  Some  few,  perliaps 
even  now  sitting  here,  can  remember  him  well,  as, 
nearly  thirty  years  ago,  an  active,  devoted  and  fellowly 
member  of  this  Association, — ^as  taking  part  in  our  delib- 
erations, as  joining  in  our  discussions,  leading  our  standing 
committees,  and  gaining  our  cordial  suffrages  to  offices  of 
high  trust  and  honor.  He  was  first  our  Secretary,  and 
afterwards  a  Vice-President  of  this  Association. 

Looking  down  the  dim  vista  of  the  distant  and  shadowy 
Past,  the  gigantic  shades  of  many  mighty  men  pass  ma- 
jestically before  our  eyes,  whom  we  claim  for  our  brother- 
hood, though  on  the  world's  wide  stage  their  r^ole  had  been 
far  different  from  that  of  the  medical  practitioner.  How 
plainly  and  approvingly  was  our  profession  signalized  and 
perpetuated  in  one  who  had  come  out  of  our  ranks,  when 
by  the  pen  of  inspiration  the  tender  appellative  was  given, 
'-'  Luke,  the  beloved  Physician  "  ! 

"  Nxillum  quod  tetigit  non  oryiavit^''''  was  the  highest 
praise  which  the  most  profound  and  yet  the  most  chary  of 
English  critics  could  bestow  upon  the  loveliest  of  English 
poets.  "  The  Traveller,"  "  The  Deserted  Village,"  '^  The 
Vicar  of  Wakefield,"  and  his  inimitable  essays  and  com- 
edies, have  given  to  Oliver  Goldsmith  the  place  he  must 
forever  hold  in  the  hearts  and  homes  of  succeeding  gen- 
erations, as  well  as  in  the  temple  of  Fame.  We  still  take 
care,  however,  never  to  forget  that  he,  who  "  wrote  like  an 
angel  " — who,  "  whether  moving  to  laughter  or  to  tears, 
was  ever  the  powerful  and  gentle  ruler  of  the  passions," 
began  his  intellectual  life  by  being  rocked  in   the   cradle 


Robert  Irvine,  D.D.,  M.D.  5 

of  the  medical  profession.  We  read  with  pride  tliis 
chaste  and  classic  Latin,  prepared  by  Dr.  Samuel  Johnson 
for  his  monument ;  for,  while  it  records  him  "  Poeta  et 
Historicus,''''  it  perpetuates  "  Physicus  "  also,  as  an  equally 
important  element  in  his  triplicate  grandeur.* 

Multitudes  of  these  master-spirits,  living  and  dead, 
varied  like  the  flowers  of  earth,  and  differing  in  magni- 
tude like  the  stars  of  heaven,  have  given,  and  continue 
by  their  writings  to  give,  light  and  happiness  to  genera- 
tions now  and  yet  to  come.  Among  them  we  find  good, 
quaint,  old  Sir  Thomas  Brown,  with  his  ''■  Religio  Medici ;'' 
and  that  other  and  later  Dr.  Brown,  with  his  '-^Horce  Sub- 
secivce ;  "  and  Charles  Lever,  "  the  Mad  Doctor,"  writing  a 
profound  treatise  at  one  time,  and  "  Charles  O'Malley  "  at 
another ; — all  maintaining,  through  medicine  and  other  cog- 
nate studies  in  which  they  were  engaged,  a  common,  but 
in  some  cases  an  ill-assorted  and  varying,  affinity  with  such 
illustrious  names  as  McCosh,  Paley,  Goethe  and  Sweden- 
borg, — and  with  Agassiz,  Owen,  Darwin  and  Huxley  ; — 
these  last,  profound  philosophers  in  animal  classification 
and  in  morphology — the  most  abstruse  problems  in  the 
science  of  life. 

But  grandest  and  most  wonderful  of  them  all,  is  the 
beloved  master  and  friend  of  the  subject  of  our  sketch,  at 
whose  feet  he  sat,  like  Paul  at  the  feet  of  Gamaliel : — loom- 
ing up  from  the  mists  of  the  not  very  recent  past,  we  re- 
cognize the  grand  proportions  of  Sir  William  Hamilton, 
the  greatest  of  the  magnificent  line  of  Scotch  philoso- 
phers.    While  awed  by  the  grandeur  of  his  mighty  shade, 

•  While  the  writer  is  aware  that  "  physicus "  here  might  he  broadly 
rendered,  "  naturalist,"  it  comprehends  also  the  specific  application,  "  phy- 
sician." 


6  Memoir  of 

and  filled  with  admiration  for  the  wisdom  and  compre- 
hensiveness of  his  profound  philosophy,  we  are  thrilled 
with  pride  and  affection  that  he,  too,  like  ourselves,  began 
life  and — as  everywhere  his  illustrations  show — hegan  his 
learning  to  think^  under  the  tutelage  and  guidance  of  the 
medical  profession. 

A  host  of  other  distinguished  names,  both  dead  and  liv- 
ing, could  be  enumerated,  who,  as  we  have  said,  while 
claimed  by  us  as  physicians,  have  yet  become  better  known 
in  other  departments  of  literature,  science  and  philosophy. 

Nearly  allied,  though  in  contrast  rather  than  in  simili- 
tude to  this  class,  was  the  subject  of  the  present  sketch. 
Each  one  of  the  others,  from  the  least  to  the  greatest, 
began  life,  it  is  true,  with  the  medical  profession  ;  pursued 
it  for  a  while,  and  was  then  attracted  into  other  walks, — 
in  which  becoming  distinguished,  they  cast  back  a  reflect- 
ed light  upon  the  pathways  they  had  been  earlier  wont  to 
tread.  With  him,  it  was  far  different.  Already  illustrious, 
and  bearing  with  him  a  name  and  an  escutcheon  familiar 
and  honored  over  two  continents,  yet  his  thirst  for  know- 
ledge, his  admiration  for  our  methods  of  investigation,  his 
full  and  unqualified  endorsement  of  our  ethics,  and  his 
profound  love  and  sympathy  with  us  in  the  noble  charity 
and  benevolence  of  our  calling — long  more  or  less  familiar 
to  him  by  frequent  partnership  with  us  in  the  common 
cause  of  Humanity — constrained  him,  late  in  life,  to  pur- 
sue medicine  as  a  study,  to  fully  identify  himself  with  us, 
to  claim  fellowship,  and  to  gain  full  recognition  in  our 
l)rotherhood.  With  him  the  love  of  the  medical  sciences 
seemed  innate,  and  his  devotion  to  their  studies  and  pur- 
suits, and  the  enjoyment  of  the  companionships  they  gave 


Eohert  Irvine^  D.D.,  M.D.  7 

him,  made  for  him  a  most  happy  but  a  hidden  and  unsus- 
pected world — recognized  only  by  those  who  met  him  on 
their  common  pathway. 

While  rich  and  luminous  illustrations  taken  from  bio- 
logic science  would  often  surprise  his  hearers,  by  the 
familiarity  with  medical  lore  exhibited  in  the  adornment 
of  his  wonderful  pulpit  eloquence,  he  was  never  a  pedant 
or  a  babbler  of  technicalities.  "  The  meekness  of  wis- 
dom "  was  ever  to  be  recognized  in  his  conversation.  It 
was  adverse  to  his  nature  to  assume  the  office  of  medical 
adviser,  or  to  become  the  endorser  of  any  medical  "  ism  " 
or  patent  remedy  or  nostrum.  He  was  ever  strictly  loyal 
to  the  profession  he  so  much  admired,  and  no  one  engaged 
in  it,  even  as  an  avocation,  could  more  jealously  have 
guarded  its  honor,  or  more  promptly  have  resented  disre- 
spect to  the  calling  he  loved.  He  ever  claimed  for  our 
profession  the  exalted  dignity,  and  for  its  members  the 
high  position  of  being  co-workers  with  his  Divine  Master, 
"  the  Great  Physician." 

In  his  life  as  a  clergyman,  residing  often  in  large  cities, 
it  was  ever  his  delight  to  join  unobtrusively  the  medical 
classes  in  their  walks  through  the  hospitals,  listening  to 
clinical  lectures,  and  witnessing  with  deep  interest  the 
operations  of  some  of  the  most  distinguished  men  in  our 
profession.  It  was  thus  he  became  the  friend  and  admirer 
of  Sir  James  Y.  Simpson,  and  of  his  nephew,  Alexander 
Russell  Simpson,  whom  he  afterwards  called  upon  in  Edin- 
burgh, and  by  whom  he  was  received  and  treated  with  the 
most  friendly  courtesy  and  distinguished  respect.  While 
pastor  in  Philadelphia,  the  lectures  and  brilliant  opera- 
tions of  Professor  Samuel  D.  Gross  were  often  attended 


8  Memoir  of 

by  him,  and  his  deep  interest  and  accurate  recollection  of 
hospital  scenes,  both  in  Edinburgh  and  Philadelphia,  were 
often  the  subject  of  surprise  to  his  friends — as  he  would 
graphically  dwell  upon  the  incidents  so  unusual  in  the 
experience  of  a  divine. 

From  an  early  period  of  his  residence  in  Augusta,  and 
of  his  pastoral  charge  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church, 
Dr.  Irvine  was,  by  the  cordial  invitation  of  the  Faculty,  a 
frequent  visitor  and  attendant  upon  the  lectures  and  clin- 
ical exercises  of  the  Medical  Department  of  the  Univer 
sity  of  Georgia.  So  deeply  interested  did  he  become 
through  this  occasional  listening,  that  he  determined,  in 
the  fall  of  1878,  to  begin  a  regular  attendance  upon  the 
lectures,  and  to  complete  the  full  course  necessary  to  ob- 
tain the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Medicine.  His  attendance, 
though  often  interrupted  by  the  duties  of  his  pastorate 
and  the  care  of  his  large  congregation,  was  surprisingly 
regular  during  the  two  years  of  his  "  life  as  a  medical 
student."  He  evidently  keenly  enjoyed  this  period  of 
pupilage  as  a  revival  of  past  days,  and  as  the  renewal  of 
habits,  exercises  and  associations  long  laid  aside  but  ever 
remembered  with  pleasure.  With  the  spirit  of  a  true 
collegian,  did  he  enter  into  his  work.  With  all  the  mne- 
monic arts  and  appliances  of  a  practised  and  life-long 
•student  and  collector  of  data^  did  his  mind  register,  retain, 
correlate  and  master,  every  fact,  principle  and  argument 
that  fell  upon  his  ear. 

His  power  of  concentration,  his  imperturbable  attention, 
his  miraculous  comprehension  and  thorough  taking-in  of 
all  that  was  said,  made  him  a  wonder  to  the  lecturers  as 
well  as  to  those  he  delighted,  in  his  esprit  de  eorps^  to  call 


Robert  Irvine^  D.D.^  M.D.  9 

his  "  fellow  students."  'He,  the  ripe  scholar,  the  erudite 
and  expert  critic,  the  practised  logician,  the  profound 
thinker  and  splendid  pulpit  orator, — had  found  a  new 
field  to  cultivate — a  new  world  to  conquer !  And  well 
did  he  lay  himself  out  for  the  work  in  hand.  His  sturdy 
and  commanding  figure,  as  he  moved  among  the  striplings 
or  as  he  sat  upon  the  benches,  with  his  pocketful  of  note- 
books for  stenographic  record  of  the  lectures,  was  the  ob- 
ject of  special  and  kindly  interest  to  every  one. 

His  genial,  simple  and  companionly  manners,  his  hearty 
Irish  humor  and  good  nature,  won  upon  his  young  associ- 
ates, while  his  purity  of  life  and  conversation,  and  his 
devout  character,  made  him  everywhere  an  object  of  pro- 
found respect  and  confidence.  To  each  lecturer  his  pres- 
ence was  a  grateful  stimulus.  Each  felt  there  was  before 
him  at  least  one  auditor  who  could  comprehend  and  ap- 
preciate the  most  abstruse  problems  of  his  department, — 
one  who,  though  indeed  an  intellectual  giant  himself,  and 
a  dreaded  lion  in  polemic  debate,  was  yet,  in  his  present 
humble  search  after  truth,  so  deferential,  so  gentle  and  so 
meek,  that  even  a  little  child  could  lead  him  in  the  un- 
wonted path,  which  from  love  he  was  pursuing. 

After  more  than  two  years  of  such  diligent  study  and 
attendance  upon  lectures — taken  upon  himself  con  amove 
as  an  additional  labor  to  the  enormous  work,  pulpit  and 
pastoral,  of  a  large  and  exacting  congregation, — Dr.  Irvine, 
in  all  seriousnes  and  good  faith,  formally  applied  for  the 
examination,  conditioning,  ordinarily,  the  degree  of  Doctor 
of  Medicine.  No  member  of  the  Faculty  ever  thought  for 
a  moment  of  subjecting  him  to  the  ordeal  of  a  formal 
examination,  which   he  undoubtedly  would    have    passed 


10  Memoir  of 

most  creditably.  It  was  with  difficulty  that  an  intimate 
friend  could  convince  him — such  was  his  modesty,  and  so 
entirely  had  his  expectations  overlooked  such  a  testimon- 
ial,— that  the  honorary  degree  was  well  deserved  by  him, 
more  approj)riate,  and  more  in  accordance  with  the  wishes 
of  the  Faculty.  This  honorary  degree  was  conferred  upon 
him  in  the  forty-eighth  Session  of  the  Medical  College  of 
Georgia,  at  the  annual  commencement  in  March,  1880. 

In  April  of  the  same  year,  he  made  Ibrmal  application 
for  membership,  and  was  unanimously  elected  a  member 
of  the  Medical  Association  of  Georgia.  Many  will  re- 
member the  surprise  pervading  the  large  assembly  of 
members  and  invited  guests,  when  it  was  announced  from 
the  Chair,  that  "  the  Rev.  Dr.  Irvine,  a  member  of  this 
Association,  will  open  the  first  session  of  the  meeting  with 
prayer."  Many  will  remember  his  appropriate  and  fer- 
vent petition,  his  constant  and  punctual  attendance,  and 
his  interested  attention  given  to  the  reading  of  the  papers, 
and  to  the  discussions  during  the  sessions  of  the  three  days' 
meeting  in  Augusta. 

He  loved  the  profession  with  which  he  had  affiliated  his 
own  sacred  calling,  he  thirsted  for  the  unfailing  springs  of 
knowledge  it  opened  to  him,  and  his  great  mind  rejoiced 
in  the  boundless  fields  of  investigation  and  of  thought 
thus  laid  out  before  him,  as  well  as  in  the  exhaustless 
sources  of  powerful  illustration  he  knew  so  well  how  to 
utilize,  in  forwarding  the  momentous  work  of  his  Divine 
Master. 

Still,  as  yet  sketching  only  a  portion  of  the  medical 
element  incorporated  in  the  life  of  this  most  extraordin- 
arv  man — some  idea  of  the  uses  to  which  he  was  in  the 


Eohert  Irvine.  D.D.,  M.D.  11 

practice  of  putting  his  acquired  knowledge,  together  with 
some  insight  into  the  origin  of  his  love  and  admiration  for 
our  profession,  may  be  gained  by  a  brief  reference  to  one 
of  his  sermons.  Though,  indeed,  most  striking  in  the 
power  and  aptness  of  its  illustration,  it  is  but  one  of  many, 
from  which  equally  forcible  figures  could  be  drawn.  Tlie 
sermon  is  entitled,  "  One  Body  "  ; — the  text  being  the  first 
four  words  of  Ephesians  iv.  4 :  "  There  is  one  body,  and 
one  Spirit,  even  as  ye  are  called  in  one  hope  of  your 
calling : " 

"  The  human  body  is  a  wonderful  piece  of  mechanism. 
'  I  will  praise  Thee,'  says  the  Psalmist,  David,  '  for  I  am 
fearfully  and  wonderfully  made.'  Do  we  wonder  that  Dr. 
Paley,  at  the  age  of  forty  years,  left  his  rich  Rectory  in 
England  and  went  to  the  medical  college,  where  he  spent 
three  years  of  a  valuable  life  in  the  anatomical  class  and 
dissecting-rooms,  examining  the  structure  of  the  human 
frame,  that  he  might  give  the  world  a  treatise  on  Natural 
Theology, — the  bulk  of  his  argument  resting  upon  the 
evidence  of  wisdom^  power  and  goodness^  displayed  in  the 
structure  of  the  material  body  of  man  ? " 

"  An  eminent  surgeon  has  said,  '  I  will  tell  you  some- 
thing about  yourself,'  and  here  is  that  something: — 

'At  the  age  of  fifteen  years,  you  have  200  bones  in  your  body; 
you  have  500  muscles  ;  your  blood  weighs  about  15  pounds  ; 
your  heart  is  five  inches  in  length  by  three  inches  in  breadth  ; 
it  beats  70  times  each  minute,  4,200  times  each  hour,  100,800 
a  day,  or  36,722,200  times  each  year.  At  each  beat  a  little 
over  two  ounces  of  blood  is  thrown  out  of  it ;  each  day,  your 
heart  receives  and  discharges  about  seven  tons  of  blood.  Your 
lungs  contain  about  one  gallon  of  air,  and  you  inhale  24,000 
gallons  each  day.  The  aggregate  surface  of  the  air-cells  of 
your  lungs,  supposing  them  spread  out,  exceeds  20,000  square 
inches.  The  weight  of  your  brain  is  about  three  pounds;  at 
full  manhood,  it  may  weigh  some  ounces  more,     ^our  nerves 


W  Memoir  of 

exceed  10,000  in  number  j  yoiirskin  is  composed  of  thi-ee  layers,, 
and  varies  from  one-eighth  to  one-quarter  of  an  inch  in  thick- 
ness. The  area  of  your  skin  is  about  1,700  square  inches,  and 
3^ou  are  subjected  to  an  atmospheric  pressure  of  15  lbs.  to  the 
square  inch.  Each  square  inch  af  your  skin  contains  about 
3,500  perspiratory  tubes  or  pores,  each  of  which  may  be  re- 
garded as  a  little  drain-tile  of  about  a  quarter  of  an  inch  in 
length,  and  the  entire  surface  of  your  body  201,166  feet,  or  a 
tile-ditch  for  draining  the  human  body  of  noxious  humors  of 
about  forty  miles  in  length.' 

"  Such  is  the  human  body ;  and  this  grand  piece  of  ma- 
chinery is  used  by  the  apostle  as  a  figure  by  which  to  ex- 
hibit the  Church  of  Christ.  It  is  made  up  of  the  aggregate 
of  individual  organs  and  members,  each  member  fulfilling 
some  important  function  in  the  economy  of  human  life — 
each  member  in  its  place,  and  each  performing  some 
requisite  office.  -  -  -  -  For  we  are  many  members  in  one 
body,  as  we  being  many  are  one  in  Christ." 

From  the  above  it  may  be  well  imagined  how  this  bril- 
liant mind,  having  fastened  upon  such  scientific  facts  as 
by  affinity,  and  ingeniously  selecting  the  appropriate  text, 
would,  in  its  abounding  wealth  of  thought,  and  in  its 
unlimited  power  of  application,  present,  in  graphic  clear- 
ness, a  picture — and  conjure,  as  by  magic,  a  spell,  out  of 
the  most  startling  and  convincing  comparisons.  From  a 
collection  of  over  two  thousand  sermons,  many  such  evi- 
dences of  the  high  value  he  placed  upon  medical  knowl- 
edge as  a  means  of  illustration,  could  be  presented. 

But  it  is  our  object  at  this  time  to  present  only  the 
relations  which  the  life  of  our  subject  bore  to  Medicine. 
From  other  and  abler  sources  we  prefer  to  collate  the 
incidents  of  his  clerical  and  religious  life,  and,  from  these, 
to  give  some  idea  of  that  untiring  pastoral  labor — uninter- 
rupted even  for  a  day  during  forty-two  years, — and  of  the 


RoheH  Irvine,  D.D.,  M.I).  13 

surpassing  pulpit  eloquence,  which  has  made  his  name 
illustrious  everywhere  in  the  annals  of  church  and  pulpit 
history  of  his  time, — placing  it,  as  will  be  seen,  by  the  side 
of  Henry  Cooke,  Alexander  King  and  Archbishop  Richard 
Whately. 

As  the  uncultivated  ear  often  fails  to  appreciate  or  to 
interpret  into  music,  the  notes  attuned  to  highest  culture ; 
so,  common  and  coarser  natures  fail  to  recognize  in  man 
the  godlike  attributes  which  stamp  him  with  divinity. 
In  music,  and  in  human  character  alike,  enlightenment 
and  refinement  are  ever  advantageous  to  a  clear  recogni- 
tion and  to  a  proper  appreciation  of  their  sublimest  and 
most  exquisite  tones.  Only  those  who  have  lived  and 
energized  in  the  same  sacred  sphere,  and  who  have  known 
him  from  the  beginning,  can  tell  us,  who  have  know^n  him 
but  towards  the  end,  how  noble  and  how  grand  has  been 
the  music  of  that  entire  life,  a  single  strain  and  episode  of 
which  we  have  but  poorly  succeeded  in  only  faintly  rend- 
ering. We  recognize  it  all  as  familiar  and  true,  when  told 
of  his  warm  and  sympathizing  tenderness ;  of  his  ingenuous 
confidence  in  all  who  professed  for  him  friendship ;  his 
touching  and  appealing  childlike  simplicity  ;  his  never- 
failing  gratitude  for  the  smallest  kindness ;  and  his  ever- 
ready  forgiveness  of  wrong  or  injury.  All  have  felt  the 
sway  of  his  courtly  and  genial  manners,  of  his  cordial  jocund 
humor  which  won,  and  of  his  loving  kindness  and  truth 
which  bound  to  him  forever  all  generous  hearts. 

But  from  his  confreres  only  can  we  fully  learn  his  life- 
long indomitable  energy,  his  self-sacrificing  devotion — even 
to  martyrdom,  his  abounding  charity,  his  comprehensive 
benevolence,  his  strict  integrity,  his  spotless  life  as  a  man 


1^  Memoir  of 

and  his  grandeur  as  a  minister.  By  them  can  still  better 
be  appreciated  and  applauded  his  profound  theological 
wisdom,  and  his  vast  and  encyclopedic  culture  in  letters, 
in  arts,  and  in  science.  These  made  his  simple  presence  a 
very  school  of  learning,  and  gave  to  his  conversation  an 
ever-enlightening  glow  of  intellectual  effulgence. 

When  to  the  above  strictly  private  and  personal  attri- 
butes, the  obliteration  of  which,  by  his  death,  has  left  a 
vast  void  in  his  community  and  in  the  State,  hourly  felt 
and  never  to  be  filled,  are  added,  his  incomparable  pastoral 
qualifications;  his  unflagging  energy  in  the  cause  of 
missions  and  in  the  extension  of  Christian  influences;  his  un- 
sleeping interest  in,  and  labor  in  behalf  of.  Sabbath  schools ; 
the  magnetic  attraction  he  had  for,  and  the  influence  over 
children  and  the  young ;  and  above  all,  when  we  remem- 
ber his  divine  gift  of  prayer — hope-inspiring  and  solac- 
ing, his  wonderful  pulpit  eloquence,  whose  echoes — as, 
pausing  to  listen — we  can  almost  now  hear  ringing  in  our 
ears — persuasive,  argumentative,  convincing, — profoundly 
absorbing  the  attention,  inspiring  the  mind,  and  satisfying 
the  soul, — how  truly  and  appropriately  may  we  exclaim, 
^' Know  ye  not  that  there  is  a  prince  and  a  great  man 
fallen  this  day  in  Israel  ? " 

But  we  turn  now  to  his  life's  record,  as  it  may  be  gath- 
ered from  the  several  eloquent  and  loving  discourses  pro- 
nounced l)y  some  of  the  most  distinguished  and  able 
divines  in  our  own  country  and  the  British  Provinces. 
Widespread  must  have  been  the  grief,  and  profound  and 
canonizing  the  love,  when  from  distant  pulpits — like  an 
answering  wail — were  echoed  back  across  the  continent, 
the  lamentation  and  the  eulogy,  absorbing  and    softening, 


Robert  Irvine,  D.D.,  M.D.  15 

as  one  lieart,  the  multitude  reverentially  gathered  round 
his  sacred  bier ! 

Principally  from  the  three  following  excellent  discourses 
delivered  shortly  after  his  death,  we  are  enabled  to  present, 
in  brief,  some  of  the  more  important  events  of  Dr.  Irvine's 
life  : — First,  that  of  the  Rev.  John  Jones,  D.D.,  of  Atlanta, 
pronounced,  at  his  burial,  in  the  First  Presbyterian  Church 
of  Augusta,  Georgia,  and  published  in  the  Chronicle  and 
Constitutionalist,  of  April  12th,  1881 ;  secondly,  the  ser- 
mon of  Rev.  James  Bennet,  D.D.,  in  St.  John  Presbyterian 
Church,  New  Brunswick,  and  published  in  the  Weekly 
Telegraph,  of  May  4th,  1881 ;  and  thirdly,  the  sermon  of 
Rev.  D.  M.  Maclise,  D.D.,  more  fully  biographical  in  its 
scope,  delivered  in  Calvin  Church,  St.  John,  New  Bruns- 
wick, April  25th,  1881,  and  published  in  pamphlet  form, 
"at  the  re:]^uest  of  many  of  the  friends  of  the  deceased 
pastor." 

And,  besides  these  beautiful  discourses — from  the  religi- 
ous and  from  the  secular  press ;  from  sessions  and  ecclesi- 
astical bodies  ;  from  societies  and  by  private  letters, — there 
cams  the  universal  expression  of  sorrow,  to  signalize  so 
great  a  loss.  But  more  significant  still  of  his  goodness 
and  his  faithfulness,  there  came,  too,  the  swelling  gratitude 
and  sympathy  from  the  big  common  heart  of  the  common 
People.  This  welled  up  now  in  memories  of  charities 
and  kindnesses;  of  fervent  prayers  by  the  bed  of  languish- 
ing ;  of  tears  mingled  with  their  own  in  sorrow ;  and,  in 
their  darkest  days,  of  a  cheering,  hopeful  voice,  and  of  an 
eye  looking  upward,  and  of  a  hand  pointing  heavenward ! 

Rev.  Robert  Irvine,  D.D.,  M.D.,  was  born  September 


16  Memoir  of 

15th,  1814,  n^ar  Saintfield,  County  Down,  Ireland.  "  From 
I'hildhood,  he  had  the  great  advantage  and  high  privilege 
of  a  most  excellent  home  and  of  a  moral  and  religious 
training.-'  From  an  early  age,  he  manifiested  gi-eat  intel- 
lectual aptitude  and  mental  capacity.  After  thorough 
training  he  entered  Belfast  Royal  College.  "Receiving 
honors  in  many  of  the  classes,  he  passed  through  th3  under- 
graduate course  and  then  went  to  Glasgow  University, 
where  he  took  an  extra  session.  At  that  time  the  fame  of 
the  University  of  Edinburgh,  as  a  place  affording  the 
highest  advantages  for  the  training  of  theological  students, 
was  very  great,  on  account  of  the  eloquent  and  profound 
teachings  of  Rev.  Thomas  Chalmers,  D.D.,  and  other  great 
and  good  men  associated  with  him."  Among  these  also 
at  that  time  was  Sir  William  Hamilton,  holding  the  Chair 
of  Logic  and  in  the  zenith  of  his  reputation,  as  author  and 
reviewer  and  the  recognized  leader  of  the  Scotch  school  of 
philosophy,  if  not  of  speculative  science  in  Europe.  "  This 
attracted  young  Irvine,  as  it  did  many  others,  to  that  fa- 
mous school  of  learning,  and  there  he  laid  the  foundation 
of  the  structure  of  his  theological  life,  broad  and  deep." 

Having  received  his  diploma  at  Edinburgh,  he  was  li- 
censed to  preach,  at  about  the  age  of  27  years,  by  the  Pres- 
bytery of  Comber,  in  1841.  He  was  called  at  once  and 
settled  over  the  large  and  important  Presbyterian  congre- 
gation of  Ballynahinch,  near  the  place  where  he  was  born 
and  brought  up.  He  here  labored  with  zeal  and  efficiency, 
endearing  himself  to  all  classes  and  largely  increasing  and 
improving  the  congregation,  by  the  employment  of  his 
great  and  growing  powers,  in  their  moral  and  spiritual  edi- 
fication. 


Robert  Irvine,  D.D.,  M.D.  17 

Having  continued  at  Ballynahincli  for  about  three  years, 
in  1843  what  is  known  as  "  the  Disruption"  took  place  in  the 
Church  of  Scotland,  a  large  majority  coming  out  under  the 
leadership  of  Dr.  Chalmers  and  forming  the  Free  Churcli. 
The  great  missionary  zeal  growing  out  of  this  movement 
in  1843,  seems  to  have  '•  had  much  to  do  with  bringing  the 
Rev.  Robert  Irvine  to  this  land." 

In  accordance  with  the  "  disruption  "  idea,  a  number  of 
people  had  separated  themselves  in  the  city  of  St.  John, 
New  Brunswick,  from  the  congregation,  which  continued 
to  hold  relation  with  the  Church  of  Scotland.  These  had 
formed  themselves  into  another  congregation,  named  the 
St.  John  Presbyterian  Church.  In  1844,  a  committee  was 
sent  by  this  infant  congregation  to  select  a  pastor  from  the 
General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  Ireland. 
Several  of  the  most  prominent  young  candidates  were 
heard,  when  the  Rev.  Robert  Irvine  was  unanimously 
chosen  by  them  and  cordially  commended  by  the  Belfast 
committee.  He  arrived  at  St.  John,  May  7th,  1844.  He 
preached  his  first  sermon  May  12th,  when  he  formed  a 
Sabbath  scliool  of  twenty-seven  children,  and  soon  after 
organized  the  congregation  into  a  church,  beginning  with 
the  small  membership  of  fifty-one.  "  His  preaching  was 
with  power,  and  so  different  from  and  superior  to  what  tlie 
people  had  been  accustomed  to  hear,  that  attention  was 
aroused  and  much  interest  excited,  so  that  multitudes  were 
irresistibly  drawn  to  profess  allegiance  to  the  Head  of  the 
Church."  While  pastor  of  St.  John  Church,  with  his  most 
wonderful  love  and  capacity  for  work  wliich  remained 
with  him  to  the  end  of  his  life,  he  would  preach  in  all 
destitute  localities  within  his  reach.   "  In  Carleton  he  gath- 


18  MemoiT  of 

ered  the  nucleus  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  on  the 
West  side  of  the  river ;  he  aided  in  gathering  and  organiz- 
ing Bocabec,  Nerepis,  Jerusalem,  Londonderry,  Moncton, 
Shediac,  Buctouche,  and  several  other  churches  now  in 
a  healthy,  growing  and  vigorous  condition  under  their 
several  pastors."  With  all  this  outside  labor,  his  own 
Sabbath  school  increased  from  twenty- seven  to  four  hun- 
dred children,  while  the  little  handful  of  fifty-one  had 
become  a  communion  roll  of  over  four  hundred  members 
— such  the  result  of  eight  years'  faithful  and  successful 
labor. 

He  was  now  called,  in  1852,  to  Cooke's  Church,  in  To- 
ronto, Canada.  "  His  resignation  was  the  cause  of  great 
grief  to  many  people,  but  great  though  his  labors  were  and 
wide  the  field,  much  as  he  would  be  missed  and  greatly  as 
he  knew  he  would  be  longed  for  and  lamented,"  continues 
Dr.  Maclise,  "  he  from  various  reasons,  deemed  it  best,  all 
things  considered,  to  resign  and  accept  the  unanimous  call 
to  Toronto." — He  labored  there  two  years,  and  lectured 
also  on  Church  History,  in  Knox  College.  AVhile  in  that 
city,  he  was  unanimously  called  as  colleague  to  Rev. 
William  McClure,  of  Londonderry,  Ireland,  but  the  Pres- 
bytery of  Toronto  interposed  and  refused  to  release  him, 
and  so  he  continued  and  labored  for  another  year."  When 
in  1854  Professor  George  Young  was  called  from  Knox 
Church,  Hamilton,  to  be  Professor  of  Moral  Philosophy  in 
Knox  College,  Mr.  Irvine  was  unanimously  called  to  suc- 
ceed him.  He  accepted  the  call  and  labored  in  it  for  ten 
years  and  three  months.  While  there  the  Trustees  of  the 
University  of  New  York  conferred  on  him,  July,  1856,  the 
honorary  degree  of  Doctor  of  Divinity. 


Robert  Irvine.  D.D.^  M.I).  id 

111  18()J:  he  accepted  the  call  to  Westminster  Church, 
in  Philadelphia.  The  church  was  not  in  a  prosperous  con- 
dition, and  it  was  obvious  that  he  had  been  called  ''  in 
the  hope  that  his  superior  pulpit,  platform  and  social 
qualities  would  fill  up  their  depleted  pews  and  exchequer". 
The  congregation  was  intensely  loyal  to  the  Union,  and 
Dr.  Irvine's  decided  Southern  proclivities  rendered  the  po- 
sition undesirable.  He  remained  but  one  year,  at  the  end 
of  which  he  accepted  a  call  to  Knox  Church,  Montreal, 
Canada ;  a  beautiful  stone  edifice  having  been  erected 
there  with  the  view  of  securing  his  services.  "  Five  years 
of  successful  lal)or  in  this  great  and  growing  commercial  em- 
porium," says  Dr.  Maclise,  '^  gathered  a  large  and  intelli- 
gently active  congregation.  Then,  finally,  health  and  other 
considerations  led  him  to  accept  a  call  from  the  important 
First  Presbyterian  Church  of  Augusta,  Georgia,  in  1870, 
where  he  lived  and  labored  till  he  died,  on  the  eighth  day 
of  April,  1881,  in  the  67th  year  of  his  age," 

Of  Dr.  Irvine's  labors  in  Augusta,  it  can  be  said  that 
'  they  were  signalized  by  the  same  remarkable  results  which 
had  attended  his  ministrations  from  the  taking  charge  of 
his  first  church,  at  Ballynahinch,  at  the  age  of  twenty- 
seven,  to  his  last,  in  Montreal,  in  the  ripeness  of  his  power, 
at  fifty.  It  has  been  seen  that,  wherever  he  went,  feeble 
and  depleted  congregations  were  reanimated — handfuls 
swelling  into  multitudes, — while  churches  calling  him  in  a 
state  of  prosperity,  grew  still  larger  and  more  prosperous 
under  his  splendid  pulpit  eloruience  and  wonderful  mag- 
netic power.  Every  one  caught  the  fire  of  his  heaven- 
given  activity  and  energy,  and  wherever  he  appeared,  he 
incited  in  the  hearts  of  men  the  desire  to  give — to  contrib- 

4 


20  Memoir  of 

lite  their  energy,  tlieir  influence,  their  money — to  advance 
the  great  cause  lie  represented,  and  wliich  had  taken  such 
powerful  and  beautiful  possession  of  Ms  entire  being, — and 
the  light  of  which  shone  like  a  glory  in  all  the  atmosphere 
around  him. 

Of  the  latter  class  mentioned  above,  was  the  First 
Presbyterian  Church  of  Augusta.  It  may  be  said  to  have 
been  in  a  prosperous  condition  as  to  congregation.  Sabbath 
school  and  finances  \  but  even  in  this,  the  advance  in 
prosperity  fairly  attributable  to  liis  influence,  was  unmis- 
takably and  clearly  demonstrated.  From  1870,  the  time 
of  his  installation,  the  membership  had  very  largely  in- 
creased, and  in  the  Sabbath  schools  connected  with  the 
church  and  its  missions,  the  numbers  had  more  than 
trebled  those  formerly  in  attendance.  When  he  came, 
there  were  no  auxiliary  places  of  worship,  or  "  missions," 
connected  with  the  church.  There  had  been,  many  years 
previously,  a  second  church,  but  it  had  entirely  failed 
of  support,  and  the  building  was  sold  to  another  denomi- 
nation. During  his  ten  years  of  pastoral  charge  of  the 
First  Presbyterian  Church,  there  were  founded  in  con- 
nection with  the  mother  church  and  directly  under  its 
rule,  three  distinct  centres  for  Presbyterian  preaching,  in 
each  one  of  which  he  was  unquestionably  the  moving 
spirit  of  its  origination.  In  the  opinion  of  the  writer,  but 
for  Dr.  Irvine's  peculiar  suggestive  influence,  shown  through- 
out his  life,  in  creating  and  stimulating  interest  in  enter- 
prises of  this  kind,  neither  the  "  Reid  Memorial  Church," 
nor  the  "  Uptown  Mission  Church  " — now  rented  and  oc- 
cupied by  the  Second  Presbyterian  Church,  nor  the 
"  River-side    Mission,"   would   ever   have   been   founded, 


Robert  Irvine^  D.D.,  M.B.  ^1 

or,  if  at    all,  one   or  more   of  them   not   for   many  years 
to   come. 

Such  was  his  adaptability  and  clearness  in  extempo- 
raneous sermonizing,  and  the  attractiveness  of  his  pulpit 
eloquence,  that  it  enchained  and  fascinated  not  only  the 
cultivated  and  the  learned  of  the  higher  classes,  but  wher- 
ever he  was  announced  in  any  of  these  several  places,  or 
in  any  locality  accessible  to  them,  the  common  people  and 
the  poor,  of  whatever  type  of  belief,  all  flocked  to  hear 
him,  and  ever  after  remembered  and  praised  him  as  a 
preacher  they  could  understand.  The  very  large  congre- 
gations, Methodist  and  Baptist,  of  the  colored  brethren 
in  Augusta,  often  secured  a  sermon  from  him,  and  the  en- 
tire colored  population  of  the  city  loved  and  venerated 
him  as  a  faithful  and  powerful  messenger  from  God. 
"  There  was  such  a  whole-souledness  in  Dr.  Irvine,"  says 
Dr.  Maclise,  in  commenting  upon  his  influence,  "  that 
people  were  unconsciously  and  instinctively  attracted  by 
and  to  him ;  such  a  magnetic,  mysterious  but  potent  in- 
fluence dwelling  in,  and  emanating  from  him,  that  the 
hearts  of  men  and  women,  old  and  young,  were  irresisti. 
bly  moved  and  moulded  by  him,  apparently  at  his  will."' 

"  In  the  pulpit,  he  looked  like  a  king  on  his  throne,  a 
right  royal  looking  man.  In  utterance,  exegetical,  argu- 
mentative, eloquent,  illustrative,  laying  poetry,  science, 
the  arts,  history  and  above  all,  scripture,  under  contribu- 
tion. There  was  a  solemnity,  a  grandeur,  an  earnestness 
and,  when  occasion  required,  an  all-subduing  pathos  in 
his  voice ;  there  was  the  soul,  kindling  and  lighting  up  the 
eyes  and  beaming  in  the  countenance  ;  there  was  a  natural 
and  easy  grace  of  action,  pervading  the  whole  man  and 


22  Memoir  of 

manner;  all  of  which  beautifully  and  harmoniously  com- 
bined, constituted  him  one  of  the  first  pulpit  orators  of 
the  age." 

"  Dr.  Irvine's  published  writings,"  continues  Dr.  MacliSe, 
•■'  have  not  been  numerous,  and  consist  mainly  in  sermons 
or  lectures  delivered  on  special  occasions  and  subjects  of 
general  or  national  interest.  Various  reasons  might  be 
assigned  for  this,  of  which  may  be  mentioned  the  fact  that 
as  a  rule,  he  did  not  write  out  in  full  his  discourses,  but 
thought  them  out,  and  then,  out  of  a  heart  and  soul  full 
of  the  subject,  he  spoke  with  an  earnestness  and  eloquence 
in  full,  round  ringing  tones,  that  not  only  reached  and 
filled  the  remotest  corner  of  the  largest  house,  but  usually 
reached  and  moved  the  hearts  of  all  within  the  sound  of 
his  voice.  *  *  *  Were  all  his  able  and  eloquent  utter- 
ances printed  and  published  in  books,  they  would  form  a 
valuable  library  of  no  inconsiderable  extent." 

The  high  esteem  in  which  his  few  published  sermons 
have  been  held,  and  the  exalted  position  to  which  he  at- 
tained, have  already  been  referred  to.  The  statement  is 
thus  made  by  Dr.  Maclise : — "  Dr.  Fish,  in  '  Pulpit  Elo- 
quence of  the  Nineteenth  Century,'  under  the  head  of 
'  The  Irish  Pulpit,'  places  four  names,  and  only  four,  and 
gives  a  specimen  discourse  of  each.  These  names  are, 
Henry  Cooke,  D.D.,  Archbishop  Richard  Whately,  Dr. 
Alexander  King  and  Dr.  Robert  Irvine.  The  names  were 
carefully  and  properly  selected,  and  were  those  of  repre- 
sentative men.  To  be  placed  on  a  par  with  Dr.  Cooke,  of 
Belfast,  and  Archbishop  Whately,  of  Dublin,  is  no  mean 
honor ;  and  the  specimen  discourse  given  as  illustrative  of 
Dr.  Irvine's  style,  power  of  thought  and  eloquent  utter- 


Robert  Irvine^  D.D.^  M.D.  23 

ance  will,  I  am  sure,  be  considered  by  no  one  capable  of 
judging,  a  whit  behind  the  best  in  the  volume.  It  was  on 
'•  The  Self-evidencing  Power  of  Truth,'  and  while  it  demon- 
strates the  theme  of  the  discourse,  it  proves  the  power  of 
the  man  who  uttered  it." 

But  the  gratifying  and  loving  labor  of  recording  some 
of  the  triumphs  and  the  glories  and  the  grandeur  of  the 
noble  life  of  a  noble  man  must  here  cease ; — our  few  re- 
maining paragraphs  must  be  saddened  by  the  melancholy 
record  of  his  death.  For  more  than  a  year  previously,  the 
health  of  Dr.  Irvine,  as  was  apparent  to  those  most  inti- 
mately associated  with  him,  had  begun  to  manifest  a  seri- 
ous decline.  Violent  and  distressing  attacks  of  gastralgia 
and  of  intercostal  neuralgia  were  but  indications  of  more 
profound  and  serious  derangements  of  his  nervous  system. 
Alarming  and  sudden  headaches,  attended  and  followed 
by  prolonged  wakefulness,  were  of  not  infrequent  occur- 
rence. In  this  precarious  condition  of  health,  he  became 
the  subject,  in  September,  of  the  "  Epidemic  Dengue  of 
1880,"  during  the  protracted  convalescence  from  which, 
he  was  •  weakened  by  profuse  and  exhausting  hemor- 
rhages. These  physical  causes  of  depression,  together  with 
others  which  the  writer  forbears  to  detail,  soon  rapidly 
undermined  his  strength,  and  led  to  the  fatal  congestive 
apoplexy  with  which  he  was  attacked  on  the  night  of 
April  5th.  From  this  seizure,  which  was  followed  by  two 
days  of  unconsciousness  with  occasional  lucid  moments,  in 
one  of  which  he  uttered  the  testimony  typical  of  his  life- 
long faith — "  I  trust  in  Jesus ! " — "  Jesus  is  vay  Trust!  " — 
he  never  recovered.  He  died  on  the  morning  of  the  8th 
day  of  April,  1881,  in  the  67th  year  of  his  age. 


^^  Memoir   of 

To  thi&  Association,  the  death  of  a  member  like  Dr. 
Irvine  is  a  loss, — more  that  of  a  Christian  exemplar  and  of 
an  inspirer  and  inciter  to  high  and  noble,  moral  and  men- 
tal, attainments,  than  as  an  active  worker,  and  still  less  as 
an  actual  contributor  to  science.  To  these  he  never  did  make, 
nor  would  he  hereafter  have  made,  any  pretensions.  One  of 
the  highest  and  most  elevating  affinities  of  our  profession, 
is  the  relation  it  bears,  and  the  assimilation  it  enjoys,  in 
innumerable  common  paths  with  theological  science  and 
the  clerical  profession,  in  the  j)romotion  of  the  welfare  of 
humanity.  The  charges  of  infidelity  preferred  against  us, 
and  the  seeming  present  tendency  to  scepticism  in  some 
of  the  interpretations  given  to  the  recent  developments  of 
science,  all  render  the  coming  into  our  ranks  of,  and  the 
close  afiiliation  with,  an  intellect  so  profound  in  all  that 
pertains  to  such  questions  as  was  Dr.  Irvine, — of  the  most 
wholesome  influence,  and  of  inestimable  value.  In  this 
we  sustain  a  loss  which  is  peculiar,  and  which  is  over  and 
above  the  deprivation  of  the  companionship  which  in  him 
we  would  have  enjoyed,  and  of  the  debates  by  which, 
whenever  within  his  scope,  we  would  have  been  edified. 
His  life-long  study  of  theological  science  and  af  religion, 
both  natural  and  revealed,  together  with  his  deep  and 
active  interest  in  the  medical  sciences,  constituted  him  an 
admirable  exponent  of  sound  and  reliable  views  on  ques- 
tions now  daily  growing  in  their  interest  and  importance 
to  many  departments  of  modern  sociology. 

The  gloom  and  sadness  which  spread  over  the  commu- 
nity, and  widely  throughout  the  State,  have  already  been 
described.  Deeply  and  generally  beloved  by  all  classes 
of   our   citizens,  all   could   realize  the  greatness   of  tlie 


Robert  Irvine,  D.D.,  M.D.  25 

calamity  at  once,  in  the  realization  of  his  death.  Of  the 
vast  assemblage  filling  the  chuxch,  and  crowding  the 
church-yard  and  the  adjacent  street,  and  of  the  profound 
pathos  pervading  it,  the  address  of  Dr.  Jones-  conveys 
to  us  a  feeling  intimation : — "  What  means  tliis  unnum- 
bered multitude — thoughtful,  solemn — these  many  tearful 
faces ;  this  overflowing  sea  of  emotion !  The  answer  is  : 
Oh !  how  you  loved  him !  Behold,  a  strong  man  laid  low. 
Strong  in  body,  strong  in  intellect,  great  in  life,  yet  greater 
in  death,  as  we  pause  to  recall  the  past,  and  draw  near  to 
contemplate  him  fully  as  a  whole.  As  we  are  amazed  to 
realize  the  true  dimensions  of  some  monarch  of  the  forest 
when  prostrate  on  the  ground,  whose  lofty  limbs  had  been 
above  our  mensuration ;  so  is  it  when  we  draw  near  and 
contemplate  this  intellectual  giant  as  he  lies  before  us  in 
solemn  state.  *  *  '  All  ye  that  are  about  him,  bemoan 
him :  and  all  ye  that  know  his  name  say,  how  is  the  strong 
staff  broken  and  the  beautiful  rod  ! '  " 

At  the  close  of  the  sermon,  Rev.  Owen  P.  Fitzsimmons, 
of  Sj)arta,  gave  expression  to  the  profound  love  and  grief 
of  all  present,  in  his  own  parting  words : — "  Truest,  tender- 
est,  greatest,  grandest  of  men,  farewell !  but  not  forever." 

After  prayer  by  Rev.  W.  S.  Bean,  the  Rev.  Chauncey 
C.  Williams,  rector  of  St.  PauPs  Church,  read  the  beauti- 
ful and  impressive  Episcopal  burial  service  at  the  grave. 

In  the  bosom  of  the  fresh,  mellow,  rest-giving  earth  has 
been  laid  tenderly  away  the  lamented  object  of  the  love 
and  confidence  and  reverence  of  all  who  knew  him  well. 
He  has  been  laid  near  to  the  households,  as  he  was  ever 
near  to  the  hearts,  of  his  people.     The  majestic  trees  that 


"26  Memoir  of 

he  so  loved  to  wander  among  will  still  lovingly  wave  over 
him,  and,  asking  for  him  resti  they  will  sigh  an  unending 
requiem  over  his  grave.  "  Time,  which  ever  brings  us 
wondrous  healing,"  may  teach  us  to  weep  less  bitterly  at 
the  hereafter  more  familiar  shrine  ;  yet,  inspired  by  its 
hallowed  memories,  all  will  daily  love  and  guard  it  more 
and  more. 

Flowers,  upon  which  the  pearly  tears  of  affection  sparkle 
like  dew-drops,  cover  and  beautify  his  grave,  at  the  very 
door  of  the  sanctuary  where  he  has  served  so  long  and 
well.  Gentle  hands  and  loving  hearts,  with  an  ac- 
tivity ever  more  quickly  effective  than  the  determina- 
tions prompted  by  the  love  of  men,  have  already  erect- 
ed within  the  church,  a  beautiful  mural  tablet  : 

"  In  Memory  of  The  Beloved  and  Faithful  Pastor." 
Funds  have  already  been  contributed  and  the  plans 
drawn,  and  a  splendid  and  worthy  monument,  with  his 
statue  in  living  marble — white  and  pure,  will  soon  rise  to 
embody  and  to  perpetuate  the  noble  form  and  features 
which  in  the  earthly  tenement  were  the  expression  of  a 
noble  soul.  The  sculptor  will  carve  in  brief  but  glowing 
characters  the  record  of  his  goodness,  his  loving-kind- 
ness, his  faithfulness,  and  his  transcendent  worth.  Being 
dead,  he  will  yet  speak  to  the  living,  and,  as  in  the 
past,  so  through  the  long  future  will  he  "  point  to  brighter 
worlds." 

But  sweeter  than  the  flowers,  more  enduring  than  the 
granite  base,  purer  than  tlie  sculptured  marble  and  more 
ineifaceable  than  the  carving  upon  its  surface,  is  the  love 
he  has  left  behind  him  in  the  hearts  of  the  people,  and  the 
sweet  savor  of  good  "  works  that  do  follow  him."  Tradition 


Robert  Irvine^  D.D.,  M.D.  27 

— the  ever-faithful  historian  and  annals  of  the  unlettered 
and  the  unlearned — will  hand  them  down  from  generation 
to  generation. 

Deep  in  the  depths  of  the  great  throbbing  Heart  of 
Humanity,  he  has  graven  his  own  elegy.  Neither  Time  nor 
Change  can  ever  efface  the  glorious  and  familiar  characters, 
nor  can  any  other  earthly  influence  ever  misinterpret  or 
pervert  their  unmistakable  and  comprehensive  meaning — 

Love  to  God   and  Love  to  Man  ! 


APPENDIX. 


At  a  meeting  of  the  Session  of  the  First  Presbyterian 
Church,  held  this  day,  April  9,  1881,  the  following  resolu- 
tions, prepared  by  Rev.  W.  S.  Bean  and  offered  by  Elder 
J.  S.  Bean,  were  unanimously  adopted : — 

The  Session  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  in  Augusta, 
having  heard  with  profound  regret  and  sorrow  of  the  de- 
cease of  our  late  pastor,  the  Rev.  Robert  Irvine,  D.D.,  do 
adopt  the  following  resolutions,  as  expressing  our  feelings 
under  this  sudden  and  trying  event : — 

Whereas,  It  has  pleased  Almighty  God,  in  His  sove- 
reign wisdom,  to  remove  from  the  ranks  of  the  Church  on 
earth  to  the  General  Assembly  and  Church  of  the  First- 
born in  Heaven,  our  friend  and  pastor,  Robert  Irvine, 
who  for  ten  years  has  mingled  his  counsels  and  prayers 
with  ours ;  be  it,  therefore. 

Resolved^  That  in  the  death  of  our  pastor,  the  Church 
of  Christ  has  lost  one  of  its  most  learned  defenders  of  the 
faith,  a  man  mighty  in  the  Scriptures,  earnest  and  eloquent 
in  prayer,  abundant  and  self-sacrificing  in  his  labors,  and 
warm-hearted  in  his  friendships,  with  natural  gifts  such  as 
are  bestowed  on  few  of  the  sons  of  men,  and  which  he  had 
sincerely  consecrated  to  the  cause  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour 
Jesus  Christ. 

Resolved^  2d,  That  we  recognise  in  this  sad  event  the 
hand  of  that  God  who  worketh  all  things  according  to  the 
counsel  of  His  own  will,  and  who  doth  all  in  infinite  wis- 
dom and  infinite  love ;  and  we  humbly  invoke  His  blessing 
on  the  church  now  deprived  of  its  earthly  bishop,  praying 
that  to  us  all  He  may  sanctify  this  act  of  His  providence, 


S2  Robert  Irvine^  D.D.,  M.B. 

that  it  may  bring  forth  in  our  hearts  the  peaceable  fruits 
of  righteousness. 

Resolved^  3d,  That  we  tender  to  the  family  of  the  de- 
ceased our  sincere  sympathy  in  this,  the  hour  of  their  sor- 
row, and  commend  them  to  the  gracious  consolation  of 
that  Heavenly  Father  who  comforteth  us  in  all  our  afflic- 
tion, and  who  doth  not  willingly  afflict  nor  grieve  the 
children  of  men. 

Resolved^  4th,  That  in  token  of  our  loss  the  pulpit  of  the 
church  be  appropriately  draped  in  mourning  for  the  space 
of  three  months,  and,  also,  that  a  suitable  memorial  be 
engrossed  on  the  pages  of  our  Record  Book,  with  these 
resolutions. 

Resolved^  5th,  That  a  copy  of  these  resolutions  be  sent  to 
the  family  of  the  deceased,  and  that  they  be  published  in 
the  newspapers  of  our  city,  and  also  in  the  Southern  Pres- 
lyterian^  the  Christian  Observer^  of  Louisville,  Ky.,  and  in  ■ 
the  New  York  Observer. 

Resolxed^  6th,  That  we  hereby  call,  most  earnestly  and 
affectionately,  upon  all  the  professing  members  of  our 
bereaved  church  to  unite  their  prayers  and  their  labors 
with  ours,  that  we  may  be  enabled,  in  this  sad  and  trying 
hour,  to  take  wise  and  suitable  counsel  together  to  provide 
temporarily  for  the  regular  worship  of  the  House  of  God 
until  such  time  as  God  in  His  Providence  shall  send  to  us 
an  under-shepherd  of  His  flock. 

"  Now,  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  Himself,  and  God  even 
our  Father,  which  hath  loved  us  and  hath  given  us  ever- 
lasting consolation  and  good  hope  through  grace,  comfort 
our  hearts  and  establish  us  in  every  good  word  and  work." 

J,  S.  Bean,  Rev.  John  Jones,  D.D., 

Clerk.  Moderator. 


At  a  meeting  of  the  Ladies'  Sewing  Society  of  the  First 
Presbyterian  Churcli,  hehl  at  the  residence  of  Mr.  Samuel 
H.  Sibley,  on  the  18th  instant,  the  following  Resolutions, 
prepared  and  offered  by  Mrs.  Henry  F.  Campbell,  were 
read  and  unanimously  adopted : — 

Whereas,  Our  beloved  friend  and  revered  pastor.  Rev. 
Robert  Irvine,  D.D.,  M.D.,  ended  his  labors  on  earth  in 
the  cause  of  Christ,  and  joassed  "  from  grace  to  glory  "  on 
the  morning  of  Friday,  the  8th  instant,  at  20  minutes  past 
9  o'clock  :     Be  it,  therefore. 

Resolved^  That  we,  the  members  of  this  Sewing  Society, 
cannot  refrain  from  giving  expression  to  the  strong  and 
tender  affection  we  bore  him ;  to  our  unswerving  trust  and 
faith  in  him ;  and  to  the  deep  grief  that  fills  our  hearts,  in 
view  of  the  unutterable  calamity  of  his  death. 

Resolved.,  That  we  now  lift  our  hearts  in  thankfulness 
to  God  that  for  ten  years  we  have  been  allowed  to  enjoy 
the  inestimable  privilege  of  hearing  the  truths  and  riches 
of  the  Holy  Scriptures  set  forth  by  this  learned  and  elo- 
quent ambassador  of  Christ — eloquent  with  the  genius 
that  was  his  native  gift,  and  with  the  inspired  knowledge 
that  his  fervent  piety  won  from  his  Heavenly  Master.  IMay 
the  remembrance  of  these  precious  gospel  teachings  live 
while  memory  holds  its  throne,  and,  we  prayerfully  trust, 
influence  our  future  lives. 

Resolved^  That  Dr.  Irvine's  ministrations  in  the  sick 
room,  his  prayers  of  rejoicing  with  us  when  our  dear  ones 
were  given  back  to  us  in  health  ;  his  words  of  comfort  to 
the  mourner  when  human  skill  proved  vain ;  his  prayers 


3Jp  Robert  Irvine.  D.D.^  M.D. 

with  and  for  the  sick  appointed  unto  death — with  lips  elo- 
quent as  though  touched  by  seraph  "  with  a  live  coal  from 
off  the  altar ;"  his  office  beside  the  bier  when  earth  receiv- 
ed "  all  that  death  had  left  us," — shall  never  be  forgotten, 
but  cherished  among  the  sacred  treasures  of  memory. 

Resolved^  That  we  shall  ever  miss  his  genial  smile  and 
kindly  greeting,  as  he  often  appeared  in  our  midst — urging 
us  always  to  deeds  of  charity  and  works  of  love. 

Resolved^  That,  as  the  only  practicable  method  of  giving 
outward  expression  to  our  great  sorrow,  we  adopt  the  re- 
solution of  the  Session,  draping  our  church  in  mourning 
for  three  months. 

Resolved^  That,  under  this  crushing  bereavement,  we 
will  comfort  one  another  with  the  thought  that,  though 
his  earthly  tabernacle  be  dissolved,  our  beloved  pastor  is 
of  those  "who  have  come  out  of  great  tribulation  and 
washed  their  robes  and  made  them  white  in  the  blood  of 
the  Lamb ; "  and  that  he  is  now  before  the  throne  of  God, 
serving  Him  in  His  heavenly  temple — all  tears  wiped 
from  his  eyes,  all  sorrow  banished  from  his  heart ; — 

"  Out  of  the  shadows  of  sadness, 
Into  the  sunshine  of  gladness, 

Into  the  light  of  the  blest ; 
Out  of  a  land,  very  dreary, 
Out  of  the  world,  very  weary. 

Into  the  rapture  of  Rest." 

Mrs.  R.  C.  Kerr,  Mrs.  Elizabeth  M.  Whitehead, 

Sec.  cfe  Treas.  President. 

April  21st,  1881. 


IN  MEMORY  OF  RE\[.  ROBERT  IRVINE,  D,D, 

[written  for  the  present  memoir. i 


BY  MISS  S.  B.  CAMPBELL. 


"  Enoch  walked  with  God  :  and  he  was  not ;  for  God  took  him." 

*^RUE  and  loving  friends  were  gathered 
^  Qi^     Round  the  dying  pastors  bed, 


i^J^Every  heart  was  filled  with  anguish, — 
w^       jjj  their  faces  could  be  read 
All  the  grief  that,  wildly  surging, 

Rolled  in  billows  o'er  each,  breast, 
For  the  Master's  voice  had  called  him— 

Called  him  out  of  strife — to  rest. 
Well  we  knew  that  God  would  take  him 

From  the  darkness  of  the  night. 
And  the  cross  of  life  once  lifted, 

His  would  l)e  a  crown  of  light. 
Yet,  athwart  our  hearts  the  shadow 

Of  our  loss,  fell  great  and  deep ; 
In  our  grief,  his  gain  forgetting, 

We  could  only  watch  and  weep. 
Weary,  sick,  and  looking  upward. 

He  had  longed  to  be  at  home — 
"Oh  for  Heaven  and  Rest  with  Jesus!"' 

Thus  he  prayed,  ^  when  will  it  come  ? '" 
Like  his  blessed  Lord  and  Master, 

Lonely  oft  the  path  he  trod. 
But  it  led  him  onward,  upward. 

Every  day  still  nearer  God. 


36  Robert  Irvine^  D.D.^  M.D. 

Thorny  though  his  way  and  dreary, 

Yet  he  fed  the  Master's  sheep 
With  the  precious  bread  from  Heaven, — 

Even  when  the  path  grew  steep, 
Would  he  strive  to  cheer  the  weary. 

Led  them  by  the  waters  still. 
And  with  earnest  love  and  patience. 

He  fulfilled  the  Master's  will. 
Mighty  was  he  in  the  Scriptures — 
Heavenly  wisdom  filled  his  soul. 
Teaching  us  to  look  to  Jesus, 
Trusting  all  to  His  control. 
Oft  in  words  of  wondrous  power 

Preached  he  Christ,  the  Crucified, — 
As  he  pictured  Heaven's  glory. 

Swung  the  shining  portals  wide ; 
And  our  hearts  drank  in  the  beauty 

Of  those  realms  of  endless  day  ; — 
Oh,  he  brought  us  nearer  Heaven, 
Which  before  seemed  far  away ! 
All  the  poor,  and  sick,  and  helpless, 

Ever  found  in  him  a  friend. 
Casting  bread  upon  the  waters. 
Loving,  generous  to  the  end. 
Weep  ye,  then !  for  well  he  loved  you, 

As  his  Saviour  did  before. 
And  the  arm  he  stretched  to  help  you 

Can  be  raised  to  aid  no  more. 
Hand  in  hand  he  walked  with  Jesus 

To  the  land  where  all  are  blest, 
Where  the  wicked  cease  from  troubling, 

Where  the  weary  are  at  rest. 
Calmly  as  his  soul  was  passing 
To  the  mansions  of  the  just, 
Softly  came  the  faithful  whisper, 
"  Jesus  is  my  only  trust ". 


Robert  Irvine,  D.D.,  M.D.  37 

You  must  be  as  little  cliildren, 

Said  the  Saviour,  to  us  all — " 
Surely,  with  a  child-like  spirit. 

Heard  he  then  the  Master's  call. 
As  upon  a  mother's  bosom 

Sinks  the  weary  child  to  rest — 
With  the  words,  "  I  trust  in  Jesus," 

Slept  he  sweetly  on  His  breast. 
He  has  left  the  land  of  shadows 

For  the  glorious  light  of  God, 
Now  with  gladness  he  is  walking 

In  the  streets  by  angels  trod  ; 
Where  His  joy  shall  be  eternal, 

Where  His  love  shall  banish  fear. 
Where  the  feet  can  never  weary, 

And  the  Lord  will  dry  each  tear. 
Great  he  was  in  life  and  noble. 

Even  greater  in  his  death  ; 
Faithful,  true,  he  served  his  Master — 

Preaching  Christ  with  dying  breatli. 
Grand  and  beautiful  the  sermon 

Uttered  ere  he  fell  asleep ! 
Looking  upward,  trust  in  Jesus, 

While  above  his  grave  we  weep. 


"Fareujell,  Brother,  Farewell ! " 


Both  in  the  religious  and  secular  press,  there  were  many 
touching  tributes.  The  editorial  by  Mr.  James  R.  Randall, 
in  the  Chronicle  and  Constitutionalist  the  morning  after 
Dr.  Irvine's  death,  we  cannot  condense  without  marring 
its  exquisite  beauty  and  strength. 

In  the  Baltimore  Preshijterian  of  January  12,  1882,  we 
find  a  loving  "  Farewell "  by  Rev.  W.  J.  Gill,  D.D.  It  is 
his  editorial  notice  of  the  Memorial  Tablet.  Than  with  it, 
we  cannot  more  appropriately  close  this  Memoir  :— 

"  We  are  glad  to  see  such  a  recognition  on  the  part  of 
the  church  in  Augusta  to  the  late  pastor's  worth,  and  of 
his  most  unexpected  death.  It  is  a  tribute  to  his  memory 
alike  creditable  to  him  and  to  them.  Not  lightly  laden, 
but  richly  freighted,  this  noble  ship  went  down  beneath 
the  wave.  A  conqueror  over  all  his  enemies,  this  valiant 
warrior  won  his  golden  spurs  of  knighthood  on  many  a 
well-fought  field,  and,  writing  '  vici '  on  his  shield,  he  died. 
Having  erected  a  '  memorial  tablet '  of  himself  in  the  heart 
of  every  loving  member  of  his  church,  and  of  multitudes 
outside,  whose  souls  he  swayed  with  his  own  strong  will 
and  imperial  powers  and  sympathetic  love,  he  has  heard 
the  call,  '  Come  up  higher,'  and  amid  the  blinding  tears  of 
an  unavailing  sorrow,  we  see  him,  in  '  yon  blue  heavens 
above  us  bent,'  exchange  the  cross  for  the  crown,  and  try 
to  say  submissively,  '  Even  so.  Father,  for  so  it  seemed  good 
in  Thy  sight.'     Farewell,  brother.  Farewell  !  " 


u 


•»-  ■  ■  _i  <  1). » ,» '     '  ■  t  / . 


